ABSTRACT
Democracy may have declined when the Constitution became the law of the land in 1788. James Madison referred to the “inconvenience of democracy,” Alexander Hamilton to the “imprudence” of it. State of the art democratic theory at the time held that a republic was most democratic when it was small, simple and direct. The framers designed one that was large, complex and indirect. The Declaration of Independence staked out the high ground in 1776. The United States Constitution did not repeal the state charters, of course, but it was supreme over them and it lacked their most democratic aspects. The House of Representatives would be elected directly. This was to be the democratic element of the system. Pennsylvania’s state-of-the-art democratic constitution of 1776 set up a one-house legislature, elected annually, with weak executive and judicial branches. A large republic was viewed as less democratic and more elitist, which from Madison’s point of view was a great selling point.
